Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-02

injunction when dying that his sons
should do nothing without consulting
her, and it is generally believed that
their obedience largely promoted their
unparalleled good fortune. .
Everybody has heard the tales OF
how the Rothschilds got the first news
in London of the result OF the battle
of Waterloo, of their frequent employ
ment of carrier pigeons on this and
other occasions, of their "corners" in
mercury, grain and other things be-
sides, of their adroit use of notorious
enemies on the Stock Exchange and
elsewhere, of their (this is imputable
individually to Nathan, however, re-
fusing to operate with men, however
clever, if they were unlucky, and so
on. Another odd thing about Nathan
was his careful omission to state in his
will the amount of his wealth and the
precautions he took to prevent this
from becoming otherwise known when
he died. 81 am as good as you," he
said to the Due de Montmorenci when
his title was granted. You style
yourself the first Christian Baron, and
am the first Jew Baron"
The anecdotes are in many cases
familiar, as is natural, but here is one
that is less common, and which, as it
introduces several famous persons,
may be worth quoting. The Baron
4 here was James, the head of the
Paris house:
At charitable sale, held in 1855, at
the Hotel Lambert in Paris, by the
Princess Czartariska, in favor of the
distressed Poles, an incident took
place between Georges Sand and
Baron Rothschild. Mime. Dudevant
Georges SANDY had stall on the
occasion and displayed number OF
fancy articles for sale. Baron Roths-
child happened to pass, and the fair
saleswoman addressed him with the
usual request to buy something.
"What am 1 to buy?" said the Baron,
"you have nothing at all suitable for
me. But stay-an idea strikes me.
Give me your autograph. Sell me
that" Nine. Dudevant took a sheet
of paper and wrote upon it as follows:
"Received from Baron Rothschild the
sum of 1000 francs, for the benefit of
the distressed Poles.-Georges Sand"
Baron Rothschild read it, thanked hero
and, handing her a note for the amount
named, went away highly gratified.
One secret Of Nathan Rothschild's
success was the secrecy with which
he shrouded all his transactions and
the tortuous policy with which he
misled those who watched him the
keenest. If he possessed news calcu-
lated to make the funds rise he would
commission the broker who acted on
his behalf to sell half a million. The
shoal of men who usually follow the
movements of others sold with him.
The news soon passed through Capel
Court that Rotschild was bearing the
market and the funds fell. Men
looked doubtingly at one another; a
general panic spread; bad news was
looked for, and these united agencies
sank the price. This was the result
expected, and other brokers, not usu-
ally employed by Rothschild, bought
all they could at the reduced rate.
By the time this was accomplished
the good news had arrived; the pres
sure ceased, the funds rose instantly
and Mr.. Rothschild reaped his reward.
Ii lS proper w say VI NdIIltH Bull
Lionel, who subsequently,, at the early
age of %, became the head of the Lon
don house, that he never practised de-
vices like the foregoing ones. He felt
that the Rothschilds had outgrown the
need for them, if there had ever been
any such need, and his transactions,
vast as they often were, included no
detail that could be called trick, or
that was inconsistent with the loftiest
standards of commercial honor. He
died in 1870, after doing vast amount
of good, and the destinies of the Lon
don house fell into the hands of his
three sons-Sir Nathaniel (since Lord
Rothschild), Leopold and Alfred.
1t was in the person of Baron Lionel
de Rothschild that the ancient system
that excluded Jews from the British
Parliament was successfully exploded,
Baron Lionel entering the House OF
Commons in 1858 and representing
the city Of London there almost with
out interruption up to 1874.